State of the Union.

• Author: Ricks, Thomas E.

There is a good novel to be written playing on the friction between the Clinton administration and the U.S. military: A huge cultural divide separates the White House yuppies from the uniformed military, and behind it is a growing gap between the militar and the nations' political, intellectual, and economic elites. More broadly, if the Cold War is indeed considered to have been a war, we are in unexplored territory because, for the first time in our nations' history, we maintain a large military establishment during peacetime. And we have a military that is probably better than it has ever been, yet also more partisan than ever before -- and is being used heavily as a tool of foreign policy by an administration it doesn't really trust. What a rich set of ingredients for a fresh, nervy post-cold War thriller.

State of the Union is not that novel. Instead, it is a tired updating of the same old Washington adventure story. Remember the Kevin Costner...